Language is such a cultural totem that its translation doesn’t cover all the corners. But yes, translation helps us to bridge distances. When we talk of machine translation, the name without surprises that comes to mind is of Google Translate. Google Translate is building bridges between languages and cultures; last year Google announced that the Google Translate service was being used 200 million users monthly.

The figure perhaps blows away the notion that Google Translate doesn’t get the limelight it deserves. Perhaps, most of us don’t use the service so much because our comfort zone is English. But let’s realize that there are many other interesting uses of Google Translate other than turning a love to an amour.

Use Google Translate To Get More Search Results

Sometimes there are some cultural specific searches, for e.g. when we are hunting for recipes or food items that are of a particular cuisine. A translated Google search helps to grab pages from foreign language websites which otherwise would have slipped past us. And yes, Google Translate does translate the page in English (or any of its supported languages we choose). It might not be perfect, but for the information it often serves its purpose. Type in your keyword and use the Translated foreign pages option under Search ToolsMore Free Google Search Tools You Might Not Be Using So MuchMore Free Google Search Tools You Might Not Be Using So MuchEach filter and operator on Google Search is designed to be a crosshair on a scope mounted on that ‘canon’. You need to use them appropriately for the relevant search result. So, I am advancing...Read More.

Google Translate Interprets For Your Social Circles on Google+

It’s not yet as seamless as the translation of other languages on Gmail (which is semi-automatic); but an official Google Chrome extension – Google Translate for Google+ does the trick. After installing the extension, you will see a translate link next to the messages in your stream.

Translate Your PDF eBooks

In the off-chance that you have your hands on a rare Chinese or Japanese book and you want to get it translated, take the help of Google Translate. Google Translate allows you to upload PDFs and have the translated version displayed on another browser tab. I tried it out with a translation from English to Hindi (my mother tongue)…the translation wasn’t completely accurate, but was enough to give me the gist of the document.

For The Webmasters: Reach Out To a Larger Audience

I can’t give you the nitty-gritty on this one because I don’t own a website myself, but the free Website Translator plugin can help to convert your webpages to 60+ languages and reach out to more people around the globe. Chances are it will increase your page views, but more importantly it will help people from the farthest corners to access the information you are broadcasting.

For The Business Owner: Analyze Foreign Markets

The Google Global Market Finder is an analytical tool that allows you to search metrics in foreign markets. You can choose among different markets and use keywords in up to 56 languages. Google translates the keywords for you and taps into how many people are searching for those keywords. With the results, you can reach out to new markets and tailor your promotion to address their needs. Google also says – combined with AdWords, Global Market Finder also provides estimates for bids, and competition for each of your keywords by market and language.

Reuse Common Translations With The Phrasebook

A few days back, Google introduced the Phrasebook with Google Translate. The Phrasebook allows you to save the translations you commonly use in a searchable list. You can store your favorite translations by clicking the star icon. You can reuse the same translations and hopefully learn a few basic foreign phrases in the process. I wouldn’t use it for deeper language learning though because machine translations aren’t always accurate. You can complement your understanding of the foreign phrases by clicking on the icon that demonstrates their usage with a sentence.

Read Road Signs

Directional information and other markers are sometimes a challenge to decipher in foreign countries. It could be a virtual impossibility in countries like China and South Korea among others. Google Translate for Android has camera-input support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. You can snap a picture of the text with your smartphone camera, and brush your finger over the part you want translated.

There is also handwriting-input support for Slovenian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Welsh, Latvian, and Afrikaans on the Android app.

The Universal Communicator in Your Pocket

You can use the Android app as your de facto language guide by typing in what you mean to say in your language and having it translate it in another. The app also displays the translation in a full-screen view which could be useful when you want to show your query to strangers.

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Kay

April 14, 2015 at 4:54 am

As a native Slovak speaker that is fluent in English as well.. I think Google should seriously improve the Slovak translations. They are literally completely wrong with even the most basic of phrases or words, which is understandable since Slovak is one of the, if not the hardest (according to some sources of research), languages to understand. (So much that even native adult speakers have trouble keeping the grammar right - best examples are with the letters 'i' and the 'y' that sound the same in Slovak but can change a meaning of the word completely).

The Google Translate deep learning system is based on statistics, so it needs more underlying data to get better. Data for some languages and especially for spoken language is really tough to get. GT also does not get the nuance of a language.

The reason I do not use google is because where I reside the national language is other than english. The problem with google it always reverts to the national language no matter how many times I reset it to english. This has fustrated a lot of international users of google. Firefox on the other hand will remain in english unless you specifically set it to another language. Therefore my choice is always firefox and always disable all google search engines. I have not had any problems utilizing Bing.

According to several linguist friends of mine, using Google Translate (or any other web-bases translation device) is fine if the subject is not really important. However, if it is important, like business, you really need to have it translated by a person.

Also, I never thought of using it on a phone. That is a great idea if you are taking yours while traveling.

Saikat Basu is the Deputy Editor for Internet, Windows, and Productivity. After removing the grime of an MBA and a ten year long marketing career, he is now passionate about helping others improve their storytelling skills. He looks out for the missing Oxford comma and hates bad screenshots. But Photography, Photoshop, and Productivity ideas soothe his soul.